The women’s kata team and Silvia Soriano in kyorugui from +49 to 53 kg get the last medals for the UV before the closing of the European Universities Games.
The European Universities Games 2024 (EUG 2024), held in Hungary and in which 91 UV students took part, ended on Wednesday, 24 July. The last week of competition has left some defeats on the team events, but also brought two new bronze medals in taekwondo and karate.
Taekwondo
The UV brought nine taekwondo athletes to the Hungary European Games, among which the performance of Silvia Soriano, student of the Nursing Degree, stands out. She competed brilliantly, reaching the kyorugui semi-finals (49 to 53 kg) with all the winning options. On this stage, she faced a student from the University of Cologne, in Germany. Silvia started the match with a lot of energy, catching her opponent off guard and scoring several quick points. Nonetheless, the German wasn’t willing to lose so easily and, towards the middle of the first round, she reacted strongly and took the lead in the count, eventually winning this first round 12-7.
The second round started more calmly, with both fighters keeping all their senses on the tatami to avoid losing any points. However, towards the middle of the round the student from the Cologne University started to progressively take the lead and, with only ten seconds remaining, the score was 10-2. Silvia didn’t give up and attempted to throw some technical kicks to get enough points to keep her hope for the finals alive. Despite her perseverance, the score ended up 12-4, so Soriano had to settle for bronze.
Karate
The women’s kata team, formed by Caribe Lorenzo Catalán, Blanca Ruiz García and Maria Sanfrancisco Jérez, arrived to the European Universities Games already classified for the women’s team kata semi-finals, in which they had to face the University of Nottingham. With red belts, the UV team went out first on the tatami and did an impeccable kata. Next were the English with their blue belts. Their kata demonstrated better strength and speed, giving them the necessary points to advance to the finals.
The three karate fighters from the UV women’s kata team also participated in the individual competition, but they couldn’t progress after losing their fights on the first round. Caribe Lorenzo participated in the play-offs as her first rival was one of the finalists and ended up being part of the top ten.
EUG 2024 final balance
The UV closes the competition with 9 medals in total, 3 silver and 6 bronze, which places it amongst the top 5 in Europe in total number of medals. Out of the nine, eight have been in martial arts, which demonstrates the excellent vitality and health of these disciplines in the Universitat de València.
On team sports only the bronze was won on the women’s 3x3 basketball, but the fourth places in men's 3x3 basketball, women's football and men's volleyball show how close UV athletes have come to winning many more trophies. These results predict a great future for the sports at the UV.
Congratulations to all our athletes for their excellent performance at the European Universities Games 2024!
